Sexting did n’t start with smartphones . Abbreviating colloquial idiomatic expression with acronyms is n’t unique to this tenner or even this millennium . booster and lover switch hand - write letters with truncated sayings — both fresh and adult — as far back as biblical times . Historian Simon Garfield chronicle this phenomenon in his script , To The Letter .
“ We think abbreviating with acronyms is new with texts and email , but it ’s been going on for 2000 years , ” Garfield says . “ Back when a Roman would write to his friend , he would set out a letter , ‘ I hope you ’re well , I ’m fine . ’ But they father bored with that , so they would shorten it to the Romance acronym ‘ SVBEEQV , ’ which stood forsi vales bene est , ego quidem valeo : If you ’re well , that ’s good — all ’s well with me . ”
And while many early acronyms were used to save sentence , others werecodes , mean to only be decipherable to the recipient . This was particularly rampant in the political campaign - up to and duringWorld War II , when troops require to get a ascent out of their sweethearts back home . They developed their own mysterious acronym , many of which were sexually graphic , and scrawled them on the back of erotic love letter envelopes .
“ Soldiers were either too embarrassed to write the messages down in full or they thought the letters would get read and censored by their Lake Superior , ” Garfield aver . Parents who discovered the meaning may not have been amused , but mail was seen as “ essential to the maintenance of morale , ” harmonise to Garfield . Here are 11 of the most popular acronyms with soldiers in the thirties . As a reminder , your grandfathers came up with these ! ( And some of them are in spades not appropriate for children . )
1. FRANCE
Friendship persist And Never Can finish
2. ITALY
I Trust And Love You
3. HOLLAND
trust Our erotic love Lasts And Never Dies
4. SWALK
seal off With A Loving Kiss
5. MALAYA
My Ardent Lips Await Your Arrival
6. EGYPT
Eager to catch Your Pretty Tits
7. BURMA
Be Undressed / Upstairs Ready My Angel Falls
8. NORWICH
( k)Nickers Off Ready When I Come Home
9. ENGLAND
Every au naturel Girl bonk A Naked Dick
10. VENICE
Very aroused Now I fondle Everywhere
11. CHINA
amount Home I ’m Naked Already
